Re: Chandler Burr Untitled S01E03

Originally Posted by Guibo

Red you rock!

I will be watching this thread with interest. I agree that spending on this project is more interesting than visual art. I have been bombarded with visual art my whole life. I am very new to olfactory art. Olfactory art is getting my vote (and my money) because it is a new experience to me and I enjoy it tremendously.

For the last two years I have honestly been participating in this without knowing it. I would come across reviews and forum threads that interested me in a fragrance. I put those in a list and ordered samples every so often. Due to my ignorance of fragrance, I saw everything as "Unlabeled". Dior and Amouage and Armani and Frederic Malle meant nothing to me. I just looked for scents that I liked.

Now I am tainted with brands, and honestly niche vs mainstream opinions. My wife still operates blind though. I do research, acquire samples, arrange testing and wait for her verdict. I tell her what she was supposed to smell after she tells me what she smelled.

Last week, I gave her some hype about new samples coming in. Then at the end of a long work day, I sprayed Secretions Magnifique on her wrist. The look on her face was priceless. She did not have the horror so often described, but a confused look. She kept trying to understand the scent, to rectify her expectation of a "perfume" and the nightmare on her wrist, of course the two were not compatible. This went on for far too long before I finally told her what it was. Her reply? "Is that it? I was expecting far worse!" If I had said "This is SM", she would have still said "Is that it?" The difference would be that she never would have tried to see it as a perfume.

To my mind this describes why this project is valuable. I don't think I would pick CB to run it (I'm leaning toward Alfarom for the job), but I appreciate the way CB is passionate about his choices.

Really well said there, Guibo. It's very dramatic what a little knowledge can do to what we think is a totally gut-reaction sensory experience.

I also envy your wife's experience with Secretions Magnifiques. I wish I'd had a chance to smell it blind, before I read all the hysterical hype about it. I don't think I would have liked it any more (it contains a few of my least favorite perfume notes anyway), but it would be great to know that my impression was purely a gut reaction.

And I can sympathize with the very valid points you made above. I was thrilled to see E02 come in at $25 and a smaller size, as that would make it more accessible. I struggle a bit with it; $50 is not a tiny amount for me.

Re: Chandler Burr Untitled S01E03

I was thrilled to see E02 come in at $25 and a smaller size, as that would make it more accessible. I struggle a bit with it; $50 is not a tiny amount for me.

Prosaic waiting-for-my-"in preparation"-shipment thoughts...

I hesitated this time around too, entirely due to price. My question on S01E03's page about whether price would continue to fluctuate went unanswered, except by someone else speculating that price indicates the relative value of the juice -- er, that seems not have been borne out by E01 and E02's pricing.

I only caved when OpenSky sent me enough credits to bring the price down, and I hustled for a few more (I think my E03 ended up at $36 including shipping -- not ideal, but since this is my last month with a firm shipping address for a bit, I justified it to myself).

You can get $5 off any item just for sending a link to three Facebook friends' Walls (the links can be deleted from their Walls almost immediately -- I did this with sympathetic friends in the UK, and I don't think they even saw the links before I deleted them). You can't recommend a bunch of different items to rack up credits (I tried) -- the credit applies only to the recommended item, up to $5.

If you have Facebook friends who are also on OpenSky, whenever they buy something you get a $5 credit (again, time limit of $48 hours). So theoretically if one had OpenSky addict friends (or other Untitled Series buyers), one could trade credits back and forth that way, too.

If you recommend a friend signup for OpenSky, you get $15 when they make their first order. (seems like a great way to alienate friends to me, but your mileage may vary)

It's a little tricky to combine these, since almost all of them have time limits, but if you're looking to get into the Untitled Series and $50 is a bit too much but $25-35 is more palatable, a little careful timing can get you there. I should also note that credits often do NOT apply for under $40 purchases, and if you're only buying the Untitled Series, you will get hit with shipping.

My tiny professor-salary would love it if this "experience" had a lower bar to entry!

Read something old and smelly? Come across an interesting historical reference to smell? Contact me!

Re: Chandler Burr Untitled S01E03

Thanks, Friede. Good to know. I've found the OpenSky site a bit difficult to use as I'm not on Facebook (so for instance, I can't leave comments on the page). But I'll see what happens if they ever make the Untitled series available overseas!

Re: Chandler Burr Untitled S01E03

I'm getting restless on this one. It's almost mid August and not even the US based fume heads got their bottles. If it were to travel from US to EU, it is not likely that a bottle would get here in time to play the game...
A pity really.

Re: Chandler Burr Untitled S01E03

Originally Posted by Irina

I'm getting restless on this one. It's almost mid August and not even the US based fume heads got their bottles. If it were to travel from US to EU, it is not likely that a bottle would get here in time to play the game...
A pity really.

I'm getting restless, and I'm right here!

I got this message last Wednesday (the 8th):

We wanted to give you a friendly update on your purchase. Your "The Untitled Series: S01E03" order is being prepped at our warehouse right now, so expect your package within a week.

Nothing after that. Still has not shipped as of this message, 5 days later. If they ship today, that statement could still be true, since I sometimes get deliveries here after 2 days.

Re: Chandler Burr Untitled S01E03

Just got my tracking number from OpenSky. For those of you as anxious/anal-retentive/etc. as I am...

Last month:

7/19 - ordered

no notice of "prepping"

7/21 (Saturday) it "shipped"

7/23 (Monday) it showed up on UPS tracking

7/26 arrival

So, from order date to arrival: 8 days (5 business days), and 4 business days from shipment email.

This month:

8/3 - ordered

8/10 (Friday) - "prepping" email

8/14 (Mon/Tues) - shipping email

So assuming the same shipping timetable, I expect (hope for?) my E03 Monday 7/20 -- roughly double the time of last month.

Considering this time around I ordered on the third day of availability, that's surprisingly little time before the Burr reveal, really. And from this thread and the lack of activity on the OpenSky thread, it seems like no one else is playing yet, either (demand dropped due to price, and orders are thin on the ground?).

I suspect "prepping" is the key to the delay here, which might say something about what's coming, though that's pure speculation (and the only sort of speculation available to me until E03 comes, sigh)

Read something old and smelly? Come across an interesting historical reference to smell? Contact me!

Re: Chandler Burr Untitled S01E03

I'm not playing this time, but I am curious to hear impressions from all you folk who ordered. I'm still having fun mixing E02 with other scents. If a new fragrance was released every 3 months or so, it would be just about right for me. I'm a slow poke, but I like really wrapping my head around a scent and it takes awhile for me.

The question that women casually shopping for perfume ask more than any other is this: "What scent drives men wild?" After years of intense research, we know the definitive answer. It is bacon. Now, on to the far more interesting subject of perfume.
― Tania Sanchez, Perfumes: The Guide

I'm not playing this time, but I am curious to hear impressions from all you folk who ordered. I'm still having fun mixing E02 with other scents. If a new fragrance was released every 3 months or so, it would be just about right for me. I'm a slow poke, but I like really wrapping my head around a scent and it takes awhile for me.

Just let me know if you want a sample. The more the merrier!

I figure that discussion will start up before this weekend, and between samples from the first wave of buys, and a second wave of buys based on the first reviews, there will be another wave of noses on this thing well before the reveal.

Glad they finally got these things shipped. Having only 7-10 days of discussion before the reveal would have messed with things severely, IMO. I figure that mid-month is really the drop-dead date for initial shipment, if you want to get a good discussion. And it's probably reasonable to not ship during the first week, either, in order to wring out all the "curiosity buys". Probably best to get all the people who prefer to buy without knowledge, and then get all the people who prefer to know what it smells like before dropping coin.

Re: Chandler Burr Untitled S01E03

When I put my (allegedly FedEx) tracking number into Google (which is usually a good shortcut trick), Google identified it as a USPS tracking number... no tracking data there either, but a note that suggested it might be a delivery confirmation-style tracking. (my brain really needs to stop mulling over this, clearly!)

Checking OpenSky chatter to see if we're all in the same boat (looks like), I came across this response from C.Burr (not related the shipping woes, but interesting nonetheless):

I've always used the word commercial to mean widely available at a relatively standard price point, say from $40 to $80 for 100ml, and the word niche to mean available at only a few points of sale, to have little or no marketing, and to cost, in general, significantly more. E03 is a niche scent.

That definition of "niche" is interesting, and might have something to do with why the cost to "entry" returned to the higher point this month, and if so would be sort of an irritating "first clue" for future reference. It potentially suggests that while name, nose, label, marketing, etc. are stripped, arguably the signifier of $$$ is still in play (though not at the level of say, walking in and comparing the sticker price of Amouage Gold and Anais Anais). That's almost as problematic for the purpose of the Series as the presence of CB's "ad copy" -- the "copy" you can ignore, but it's impossible to ignore the fluctuating price.

(of course, it could just be that the stats of the prior months meant that OpenSky believe that the bottles will still sell out at the original $50 price point -- if so, we'll see them continue to be $50 for the rest of the Series)

But if I'm right and negotiations with the "donating" houses/noses/companies are driving a shifting price point for the Series, I almost wish for a rolling three-month "subscription" or something of the like -- I'd shell out $60ish for 3 months even if I knew what I was getting was three wildly different items "worth" very different prices on the open market...

Read something old and smelly? Come across an interesting historical reference to smell? Contact me!

Re: Chandler Burr Untitled S01E03

Im pretty much over this. I was excited 2 weeks ago. I will probably just smell it and say "yea, that smells ok" and move on to my other samples. Can Mr Burr please show up here and give us some idea of why this is taking so long. Seems like they didnt plan this whole thing very well.

I doubt that contacting Opensky will get much more than a generic "Sorry" type of response.

Re: Chandler Burr Untitled S01E03

I would happily pay a higher amount ($150 or 200) if they were enrolling people in a "subscription service" for this project, 5ml per month or however it would be arranged (this is a learning experience, the volume of juice doesn't need to be vast). The project's concept is brilliant but the logistics and hassle of how ordering, sizing, pricing is setup is fairly rudimentary. If I involve myself in this project I want to immerse myself in the learning experience and be along for the whole ride, not just join in here or there whenever I have the money to drop or whenever it's not sold out. I don't fault CB for the logistics issues but I feel like such a brilliant project is being lost on many of us who view it as almost more of a hassle than it's worth.

And charging more for niche automatically puts that thought into the participant's head too. If a perfume-of-the-month subscription type system was setup then you could pay the full amount at the start and the price of individual fragrances wouldn't become an issue to paint your imagination with the idea of designer vs niche. And that way you could also forget about trying to stay on top of the ball with the schedule and potential sold out issues. Just my 2c.

Re: Chandler Burr Untitled S01E03

OMG - They're UPS numbers! Not USPS. As soon as I dropped the number into UPS, I got the full history and location. It's almost here! Should be arriving very soon.

Brilliant, RP -- it worked! I'm sorry that I was right in my original estimate (mine is still not due for delivery til Monday, sigh), but it's nice to know where it is... But still, I see your "UGH" and raise you a "yeesh!" to this month's farce!

Read something old and smelly? Come across an interesting historical reference to smell? Contact me!

Re: Chandler Burr Untitled S01E03

Originally Posted by lm6

I would happily pay a higher amount ($150 or 200) if they were enrolling people in a "subscription service" for this project, 5ml per month or however it would be arranged (this is a learning experience, the volume of juice doesn't need to be vast). The project's concept is brilliant but the logistics and hassle of how ordering, sizing, pricing is setup is fairly rudimentary. If I involve myself in this project I want to immerse myself in the learning experience and be along for the whole ride, not just join in here or there whenever I have the money to drop or whenever it's not sold out. I don't fault CB for the logistics issues but I feel like such a brilliant project is being lost on many of us who view it as almost more of a hassle than it's worth.

And charging more for niche automatically puts that thought into the participant's head too. If a perfume-of-the-month subscription type system was setup then you could pay the full amount at the start and the price of individual fragrances wouldn't become an issue to paint your imagination with the idea of designer vs niche. And that way you could also forget about trying to stay on top of the ball with the schedule and potential sold out issues. Just my 2c.

That sounds like a really good idea. I would totally do that. And I agree that the bottle size could be a lot smaller, even 10 or 20 ml.

I also like Chandler's definition of niche, and have never really agreed with the "designer" v. "niche" categorization. For me, the opposite of niche is "mainstream," but "commercial" works too. Because I think you can have designer niche, e.g., Knize Ten or Chanel Coromandel.

Re: Chandler Burr Untitled S01E03

Originally Posted by Kagey

That sounds like a really good idea. I would totally do that. And I agree that the bottle size could be a lot smaller, even 10 or 20 ml.

I also like Chandler's definition of niche, and have never really agreed with the "designer" v. "niche" categorization. For me, the opposite of niche is "mainstream," but "commercial" works too. Because I think you can have designer niche, e.g., Knize Ten or Chanel Coromandel.

Me, too - I think a paid subscription to a whole series might be nice, and especially if you had a halfway decent set of matching bottles at the end. I have a set of art scents - each about 10 mL - that look rather beautiful in their squarish minis, and I think people would treasure owning the series.

Also like the idea that you can have "niche" from a designer - it shows how fuzzy the accepted classifications really are.

Re: Chandler Burr Untitled S01E03

Ok I can confirm I received my bottle of S01E03 and it is half the size of the bottles of E01 and E02 as you can see in the picture below.

Once again I am at a loss to match the fragrance in the bottle to Chandler's verbal packaging although this time it is probably more a matter of adjectives than reality.
There is definitely a clarity and delineation to this and it is also a choice this is great for these mid-August days. I'll chime in after others have had their chance at a first impression.

This post is mainly to let people know it is on its way and the bottle is smaller.

Re: Chandler Burr Untitled S01E03

The person I spoke with said in no uncertain terms that her bottle was 15ml, and not the 30 ml the OpenSky site claims.

I can't imagine there would be a screw up like this, given that this one was already quite a bit more expensive per ml than the last one. And now it turns out to be only half the juice that was advertized ?

Waiting to hear what Chandler has to say about this, if indeed it turns out to be true.

Re: Chandler Burr Untitled S01E03

It is for sure a 15ml bottle. They are probably having to buy the bottles retail and could not afford to send 30ml of this one to everyone.
Ive already figured out what it is so i guess i'll go back and read all of the descriptions and see if they make any sense to me.
Doubt that i will be playing again. This one was very anti climactic.

Re: Chandler Burr Untitled S01E03

Originally Posted by heperd

...
Did the original advert say that they were 30ml bottles? I cant find it.

Limited Edition of 125 bottles (30ml/1oz)

Introducing a revolutionary new fragrance series curated exclusively for the OpenSky.com shoppers by renowned scent critic Chandler Burr. Each month, on the first of the month, Burr will select a fragrance to share with shoppers. He’ll choose works currently on the market, in all styles, from the late 19th century to today that have been created by the greatest scent artists in the world. He’ll present them to shoppers in unmarked 30ml lab bottles, stripped of all packaging, marketing, labels and faces, including the brand and the name. Without identifying the scents in any way, Burr will write a critical assessment of each including the brilliance of their structures, the quality of their materials, and their singular beauty, all characteristics he feels are essential to consider when selecting a scent.For the first time, experience perfumes in a way that will allow — in fact encourage — you to rethink each scent by freeing you from all visual cues and marketing techniques. The Untitled Series is a way of seeing these works with fresh eyes.

Experience the third fragrance called S01E03 (Season One Episode One) and the identity of the scent as well as more about the artist who created it will be revealed to shoppers on the last day of August. The series will continue with a new launch on the first of every month and a subsequent reveal on the last day of each month. There will be only 125 bottles available in the Series this month and once they are sold, they’re gone, and will not be produced again.)

Re: Chandler Burr Untitled S01E03

Chandler Burr: If you read this, please consider a uniform, scheduled subscription service that people can sign up for to participate. I'd love to involve myself in this project but the hiccups have dissuaded me for the time being. Granted, they're not the biggest hiccups in the world and people are still receiving their juice (well, at least half of it), but it's enough to make me sit back. Also, 30ml (even 15ml) seems like an excessive amount of juice given the premise of this project. Please consider a 5ml subscription service, the involvement would skyrocket and the effectiveness of your (admittedly very intriguing, informative and beneficial) project would have such a greater impact.

Heperd: Wow, you already guessed it? Job well done I guess I should've assumed this project might not be able to stump the Jedi level niche heads of basenotes lol